The US plastics recycling industry is sounding the alarm over what it describes as a market-distorting flood of low-priced PET imports that has
already shuttered seven domestic facilities and eliminated nearly a quarter of the nation's recycling capacity in just over a year. The Office of the
United States Trade Representative last week kicked off a review of Section 301 tariffs on China imports that were implemented during the first
Trump administration, according to a Federal Register filing.
Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR) President and CEO Steve Alexander delivered urgent testimony before the USTR as part of the agency's
Section 301 investigations into structural excess capacity and foreign oversupply impacts on US industries. His message was stark: domestic
recyclers are losing ground not due to inefficiency, but because of artificially depressed pricing they cannot compete against.
Import growth from Asia threatens domestic recycling infrastructure and jobs
"In just the past 15 months, seven US PET recycling facilities have shuttered, resulting in a nearly 25% loss of domestic PET recycling capacity,
" Alexander said. "They closed not because of inefficiency, but because the market was distorted by a wave of low-priced imports that these
facilities could not withstand."
The data APR submitted to USTR reveals the scale of the challenge. Imports from India increased more than 1,200% between 2021 and 2025
while prices fell by more than 60%. Indonesia saw imports surge by more than 1,125% over the same period, while Thailand's imports skyrocketed
by more than 2,278%.
Alexander identified Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Korea, Vietnam, Taiwan, India, and China as "Significant Exporter Countries" whose rapidly
growing import volumes at sharply declining prices are accelerating harm to domestic recyclers."These countries are not simply competing," Alexander
testified. "They are flooding the US market with rapidly increasing volumes at sharply declining prices."
China's virgin plastics overcapacity compounds pricing pressure on recycled materials
"China continues to drive global overcapacity in virgin plastics at a scale that no market actor can absorb," Alexander said. "Its role in generating
global oversupply is well-documented and exerts downward pressure on prices worldwide."
The combination of surging low-priced imports and depressed virgin resin prices has created what Alexander described as an economically unviable
environment for domestic recyclers, regardless of operational efficiency.
"When imports are artificially low-priced, domestic recyclers cannot compete on a level playing field, no matter how efficient they are," Alexander said.
"The result is sustained price depression that makes continued operation for domestic recyclers economically unviable."
APR urged USTR to take action under Section 301(b) of the Trade Act to address the oversupply of imported PET entering the US market. However,
the organization specifically requested that PET imports from Mexico and Canada be exempted from any measures.
"The PET supply chain is integrated across North America, and trade barriers on these imports would needlessly disrupt established and productive
supply chains," Alexander concluded."The US PET recycling industry is at a breaking point," Alexander added. "Without timely intervention, we will
continue to see plant closures, job losses, and the permanent loss of domestic recycling capacity."